Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Immortals


Looking for some entertainment in a rainy weekday afternoon, so went to watch Immortals at Cathay.

The movie is again about the fight between good and evil, Gods and Titans.  Somehow the Zeus, king of all gods, appears as a middle age man, with a perfect man's body.  It is quite a difference from the Zeus that we see in more traditional painting and sculptures where Zeus has been portrayed as a kind old man.

Theseus, played by Henry Carvill, is great material as a model, with again, a perfect man's body.  The muscles are so well defined.  I think the girls most probably will be drooling all the time.  However, somehow he doesn't appear to be a great hero, as he has neither lots of courage, nor strategy against the enemies.  Rather, his totally unnoticeable hero support, Stavros, seems to be more knowledgeable, and has more tactics.

The movie has quite a lot of CGI, giving the audience a sense of mystery, and lots of elements for a mythology  movie.  In addition, the movie is bluntly bloody.  Humans, gods, titans are slaughtered with utmost brutality, splashing flesh and blood everywhere.  Definitely this movie is not suitable for young children.

After watching this movie, you may conclude that there are no more gods nor titans in this world, as they have all been killed by each other.  Guess what is the end of the movie?  King of Gods, Mr Zeus, was busy fighting a war with the Titans in heaven!  No wonder he has no time to take care of Greece's national debt :)  That explains why Europe now is in a deep financial crisis.  

Saturday, November 26, 2011

Fu Lin Yuan Health Soup Restaurant

A friend bought some coupons for four people from a group purchase website recently.  I already one previous experience with group purchase food, which was just so so, so this time round, my expectation was not really high.

The restaurant is tucked in one of the small old-style shop houses in Neil Road.  The setting is quiet and peaceful.


The table setting is very simple, nothing special, but it is clean and neat.


Then came our first dish.  Mushroom with leafy vegetables.


This dish is quite special.  The mushroom is very crispy, and flavour of the sauce has been fully absorbed by the mushrooms.  I think the chef also slightly fried the mushroom so it has a very distinctive taste, waking up all your taste buds.

The other dishes are:

1. Deep fried prawns with salted egg yoke
2. Chili Xiapo (虾婆)
3. Duck and reddish soup
4. Pork Ribs
5. Frog legs
6. Yangzhou Fried Rice

Sorry, guys.  The food was good and we were all too eager to eat rather than taking photos :)

All the food is good.  The Chili Xiapo is spicy and punchy, at the same time, preserving the freshness of the Xiaopo.

Frog legs are good too.  They are very tender and you can tell the freshness the moment they enter your mouth.

Fu Lin Yuan is at 47 Neil Road.



Friday, November 25, 2011

Who Wears a Rolex Watch

Rolex has been a very famous branded Swiss watch across the world.  The prices of Rolex watches are also as high as its fame.  However, do you ever wonder who wears a Rolex watch?  Other than the kings and queens, presidents and celebrities, who else will wear a Rolex watch?

As I passed the immigration at LAX, I simply couldn't not to notice that flashy shiny piece of stainless steel on that US Homeland Security officer's wrist.  Why?  It is a Rolex submariner.  The price of such a watch is in the range of S$7000-8000 to S$10,000, depending on the exact model.  I was a bit far from his hand and couldn't get a close look at the exact model, but I am sure it is a Rolex!

On my way back to Singapore, the young steward on board that SIA flight also has a piece of shiny piece stainless steel, popping out from his nicely ironed sleeve.  It is a Rolex!  The magnifying glass piece is so distinctive!

Just when you wonder who would spend that insane amount of money on a tiny piece of stainless steel, the Rolex shop at Changi Airport terminal 3 actually ran out of stock of the new Rolex submariner (116610LN), the stainless steel version, only left with the more expensive gold version.

It is a very interesting world. :)

Monday, November 7, 2011

Paradize Inn @ NEX - My 3rd Visit

I can't believe it myself, but this is my 3rd visit to Paradize Inn@NEX, and 2nd visit within like 2-3 weeks.


This time we ordered Goby soup with pork and apple.  The soup is not too thick.  Apple adds a bit sourness to the taste.  It is nice!


And the sambal kangkong here is not bad.  I guess it must be the sambal that has added the critical flavour to the dish.  I like the leafy portion, not the stems.


Tofu with century egg is a cold dish that I have never seen before.  The tofu is plain, but once added in the century egg, the taste is complex.  You can even eat the tofu plus century egg plus the wonderful sambal kangkong.


Steamed minced pork with water chestnut and salted egg is another delicious dish.  However, some fat is mixed in the minced meat, so if you don't like fat, you won't like this dish.  Water chestnut is sweet and crispy.


Last but not least, the very sinful kourou bao.  Basically it is super fatty meat with a plain bun.  We only ordered one piece, as I didn't want to take this.  Too much fat for this old man ;P

Food-wise, it is still the usual standard and it is really good.  Service-wise, today is not so good.  The waiters and waitresses hit our hands a couple of times when they walked past, and nobody came over to serve us the soup.

Sunday, November 6, 2011

The Adventures of Tintin - The Secret of The Unicorn


It seems like Hollywood has somehow run out of ideas for new movies, so they just re-make the classic old movies.  The Adventures of Tintin is based on a comic book, and also a cartoon series in the middle of the last century.  People who grew up reading Tintin comics now are in there 70s or even 80s, the new generation  may not have even heard of it.  So, it is time to re-introduce this old world adventure character to the new generations.

The movie combines 3 original Tintin series into a single episode, so there is a lot of compression of the story, and quite a bit of deviation from the original cartoon.  There is a typical Hollywood signature style of being too hasty in story development, I call it 'fast food' storyline.  The 'original' Tintin fans may get a bit disappointed, but the new generation fans may be just happy with the modern version.

I watched the 2D version.  The characters are very 'plastic'.  It is neither real human like, nor cartoon like, it is in between, like your plastic barbie doll.

My Rating: 3/5

Saturday, November 5, 2011

Kam Ja Zhuang Seafood

Kam Ja Zhuang Seafood is a Zi Char stall featured in Channel 8's Sizzling Woks program.  As it is near my work place, so 3 of us went there to give it a try.


Our 'main' disk is the curry fish head.  The curry sauce is not bad, spicy and fragrant.  However, the fish head is quite a disappointment - it is very small.  You dig into that big big clay pot but you don't get much fish head.  Taste-wise I think it is acceptable, portion-wise I think it is a disappointment for S$20.00.


Second dish is prawn with fruits.  The fried prawns are fresh, and taste is nothing to complain about.


The shrimp paste chicken wing is quite plain in taste.  I am not sure whether it is because the spice of the curry fish head has disturbed my taste buds for this dish.  I think its standard is acceptable, but not exceptional.  The meat is slightly on the dry side, not as juicy as it should be, but still ok.


Highlight of the night is actually this simple vegetable dish - samba kangkong (马来风光).  Ok, my Malay is not very good, so people who know Malay please correct the name of the dish.  Anyway, somehow this dish is very different from the same dish I had elsewhere.  It has that special 'punch' in the taste, and wakes you up!  I don't know whether the secret is in the vegetable itself, or the sauce or both!

In terms of environment, the coffee shop was renovated recently, so the lights are bright, environment is pleasant.  Still no air conditioning thought.  However, what turns me off most is there are people smoking in the coffee shop, right in front of the 'No Smoking' sign!

Kam Ja Zhuang is at Block 202, Ang Mo Kio Avenue 3.